Fresh Breath Never Tasted So Strange

Five unusual, delicious, and effective toothpastes

JESSICA LEVINE

What flavor is fresh? Unless you're a 5-year-old, we're guessing bubble gum doesn't come right to mind—or pork or vanilla ice cream. Strangely, though, toothpaste, the ultimate breath freshener, comes in all of those flavors and many, many more. Mint, of course, dominates the market and for good reason. It's a proven bacteria fighter. But in recent years research has turned up promising stats on other ingredients—from sweet to spicy to downright strange—that do what mint does in the mouth and maybe more.